In this blog, we are going to focus on the system requirements for configuring, storing, monitoring, reviewing and operating rebate deals or special pricing agreements. For the sake of efficiency and audit tracking, and to avoid unnecessary disputes, all elements of pricing agreements should be stored in one place. A cloud based solution is ideal for multi-centred operations. Accessible for all The software should provide a central repository that (with appropriate security settings) is accessi...

Companies tend to look for specialist rebate management software when they reach a point where their core business systems are proven to be inadequate. This particularly affects builders' merchants, plumbing distributors, electrical distributors, HVAC distributors and others who operate in the building materials industry. These businesses usually have to deal with a large number of complex trading agreements involving rebates, special pricing agreements, retrospective discounts, over-riders and...

We have a buyers' guide that outlines everything you should look for in a Rebate Management System, but I wanted to outline my top 12 features in this blog. 1. Complete solution The system should cover all aspects of your trading relationships from contract to claim. 2. Integration to anything Systems consolidation with any kind of system should be built in — be that ERP integration, EDI, CSV or other types of transfer. A rebate management system is data hungry, requiring information to be pass...

A ship and debit agreement enables suppliers to sell their goods at a uniform price, while distributors can react to local market conditions and lower the price they use to sell to customers without losing all of their margin. Ship and debit is widely used in the technology and electrical supplies sector. If an OEM sells laptops at $1000 and has agreed a $100 rebate for every unit sold, the distributor will pay $1000 per laptop to bring them into stock, and for every unit shipped, they will deb...

Whilst working with a number of organisations across industry sectors such as building materials, buying groups and wholesale and distribution, we have seen a large variety of very complex supplier rebates and trading agreements. These very often involve incredibly complicated performance-based calculations with seemingly endless permutations, and on top of that agreements are subject to periodic review and change. In the building materials sector for example, there are further complications wh...

In our dealings with businesses who have to manage complex rebate deals we have come across over 300 different types of deal… AND we’ve mapped all of those options into our DealTrack software. Whilst it is important to have all those deal types to give ultimate flexibility, we thought it would be fun to share the top 7 most popular scenarios. First though, if rebates are hard to manage — which is why we created DealTrack in the first place — why are they so popular? Vendor rebates, volume pricin...

If you’re a builders merchant in 2018 you’ll know how essential it is to ensure every penny counts in terms of your bottom line. So, it’s even more crucial than ever that you don’t miss out on any of the, often significant, sums due to you through rebates. Indeed, profitability for suppliers to the building industry is often very closely dependent on the amount of rebate they can negotiate and claim and many businesses across this sector tell us that the sheer volume of categories and the comple...

Rebate management is the process of recording supplier agreements, tracking purchases and sales against those agreements, and managing accruals and rebate claims in a timely manner. This blog and animation cover: What is rebate management? What is a rebate management system? What are the benefits of having a rebate management system? What types of company use rebate management systems? A rebate management system allows you to accurately systemise and automate every element of a rebate...

Failing to claim 100% of rebate due can have a large negative impact on the bottom line for businesses in industries where rebate agreements are commonplace. Finding out why that happens and how to stop missing vendor rebate claims is at the forefront of the minds of rebate accountants and financial leads the world over. Some ERP systems have functionality for recording rebate agreements, but often lack the granular level of functionality needed to carry out detailed matching of actual purchase...

With increasing global competition, ever-more complex trading agreements are being created. Effective management and control of complex trading agreements that include supplier rebates is notoriously difficult. Most standard accounting and purchasing software packages will not cope with the variety and complexity of pricing strategies and rebate agreements. But a solution that is disjointed or based on spreadsheets introduces the possibility of missing data, human error and inaccurate reporting....

Most ERP systems do not cope with complex vendor rebates very well. Some do have bolt-on vendor rebate modules, but we have found that in a very complex trading environment the standard module is incapable of modelling all the product / price / branch / margin combinations that might be required. When dealing with complex trading agreements involving rebates most ERP systems fail to: model every aspect of a trading agreement so that all nuances of the agreement can be executed using the ERP sy...

The decision to choose a contract management system is often driven by a need to model complex purchasing agreements that cannot be met using spreadsheets or existing ERP systems. The first decision to make is about the type of contract management system that you need. Do you operate in an environment where complex discounts and rebates are prevalent? If the answer is “yes” then you may actually need a Rebate Management System. Typically, a rebate management system will: Enable you to model co...

As experts in rebate management, we have come across (and fixed) many problems with rebate management processes. Here are the 7 most common things that businesses need to fix in order to improve profitability and growth. 1. Problems capturing rebate agreements in core business systems Companies tend to look for a specialist solution to rebate management when they reach a point where their core business systems are proven to be inadequate. We have seen several scenarios: Businesses where, perha...

Due to the intricacies of most supplier trade agreements, rebate accounting is a notoriously complex operation. Many organisations still manage their rebates with spreadsheets or rely on their suppliers to make the calculations, despite this leaving them at high risk of errors and omissions that could lack audit compliance and lead to significant revenue loss. To improve upon your current rebate management system, it’s necessary to take full control of the rebate process and the difficulties tha...

Our mission is to provide “freedom to focus” and that applies as much to our own staff as to our customers. For our customers, our software provides the means for them to focus on what really matters in their business. In the case of DealTrack, we enable our customers to focus on supplier relationships and maximising deals, whilst the system takes care of tracking and accounting for rebates. For our employees, our structure is such that our developers are completely and utterly focused on develo...